Dead Space needs "around five million" fans to survive, according to EA

EA president Frank Gibeau says that Dead Space needs a number of players roughly equivalent to the entire population of Norway to justify its continued existence. "In general, we're thinking about how we make this a more broadly appealing franchise, because ultimately you need to get to audience sizes of around five million to really continue to invest in an IP like Dead Space," he told CVG in a recent interview.

"Anything less than that and it becomes quite difficult financially given how expensive it is to make games and market them," he continued. While firm sales numbers are not readily available, EA did say back in February that Dead Space 2 was selling about twice as well as the franchise's first entry had. Yet, even given that, they feel that Dead Space 3 needs to be more "broadly appealing" without alienating current fans of the series.

Dead Space 3 is set for a 2013 release, and sounds to be leaning toward more toward the action genre than its predecessors. Only time will tell if, and to what extent, that shift compromises the horror elements that current fans of the series enjoy.